Today is the day that Kim Churchill’s latest single, Breakneck Speed, is released and the start of his Australian Tour. We’re looking forward to catching Kim at The Gum Ball next weekend for the official unveiling of his new live show.

So, we thought we’d catch up with Kim in the lead up to his tour.

Your music journey has certainly been epic – from living out of your van and gigging around Australia to now travelling the world most of the year. What’s the biggest difference for you between the early days for you and your lifestyle now?

Honestly not a lot. I still spend a lot of time in the back of my van. I still surf everyday. I still play music everyday. It’s rad and it works. I am probably a bit more focussed and I dunno what you’d call it – ‘professional’ perhaps. I mean I guess that equates to ‘I drink less beer now’ haha.

You’ve been a regular at so many Australian festivals like BluesFest and The Gum Ball – what kind of festival do you prefer – the big festivals with international guests, or the small, predominantly local act festivals, and why?

Well this is a cop-out answer but both. Big international festivals are exciting and inspiring and you get to see large scale bands play enormous shows. Smaller festivals have all your friends and they play just as brilliantly and are just as inspiring. I couldn’t do without either.

Where is home now? Where do you find yourself longing to return to and spend most of your time?

Newcastle. The junkyard. Between the two I’m pretty much at home. I love that crew and I love the beach in Newy. If I’m away I really so find myself longing to get back. One day I might live there.

What’s your biggest dream for your music? Where are you hoping your journey to take you?

Everywhere! Coffee houses In Turkey, stadiums in South America, beach bars in French Polynesia. I dunno I wanna see it all and be the soundtrack to a million different scenes.

You’ve performed at The Gum Ball a few times now, how have you seen the festival grow and change? And what advice would you give to a first time Gum Ball attendee?

It’s one of my favourite festivals because it has maintained its integrity as it has grown. It’s still got all the beautiful vibes, people, trees, tents, beers and loving connection that it had back when I first went. I know it’s getting bigger and bigger but they really have their heads screwed on and I think it will be something I want to go to for most of my life 🙂

Australia’s excited about Wagons, it’s true. Their monster tour of Australia kicks off at the end of the month, KT Bell caught one of their sets and Q&A at Bluesfest, and Thom Owen Miles could not be more excited to finally get along and see an act people have been telling him about for yonks.

Their fifth studio album, Rumble, Shake and Tumble, comes out on today, and days ago they released a sneak peak of the album with the single “I Blew It.”

If their set at Bluesfest is anything to go by, and the rumblings coming from the Wagons camp, the new album will be jam packed with all the usual Wagons mischief, cheeky tales and and their outlaw country rock with some inspiration from the Americana music spectrum. One of the great moments in their set was their performance of “Willie Nelson” – a song which has become a much loved live hit, with audiences always singing along, but has always been elusive to capture on record, but with Rumble, Shake and Tumble, Wagons have managed to do just that. Henry Wagons took great delight in telling thrilled audiences about how “Willie Nelson” was finally recorded well enough to do it justice to it’s live performances.

Another Bluesfest highlight was Henry Wagons’ Q&A with Rhythms Magazine where he told of Wagons‘ Hip Hop, how ‘vauguely retarded’ every other attempt at recording “Willie Nelson” turned out, the ups and downs of touring, recording the new album, Dave Graney’s written portrayal of Henry Wagons and KT Bell even managed to ask for a few tales from their SxSW appearance (where 16 gigs in 18 days was nearly too much for the band) and for details of Those Darlins‘ broken arm incident and hopeful return to Australia later this year.